We’re back beating the gaming drum again and hoping you can help us get a bit more love for our board game baby

They love it, you love it, now let the world know!

Board Game Geek is a very influential corner of the internet when it comes to talking games. Right now Kill Shakespeare’s rating is lower than we think the game deserves. We’re asking you to go out there and rate the board game (obviously with what you feel it deserves), the more votes and comments we get, the more attention we can bring to the game — and the more “frenemies” you can find to play with you!

You’ll need to register for a BGG account first, but if you like board games you’ll want one of these anyway.

Once you are a member rating a game is a bit tricky so let us walk you through it:

a)At the top left of the screen, beside your log-in name, there are a series of drop-down menus. Click “My Geek”

b)Choose “Collection”

c)On the top left is a button “Add Games’. Click that.

d)Type the name of the game you want to add in the dialogue box and click it when it comes up.

e)Once the game title is listed in your collection you can click on the N/A button below the heading Your Rating to add a rating and then click on the empty space below “Comments” to add a comment. Be honest. If you’re frustrated with the game let us know, if you think it’s great, let us know.

Thanks again for being the best group of fans in comicdom! (and gamedom now too!)

Many of you have been reaching out to us on social media to let us know you received a copy of the Kill Shakespeare Board Game for the holidays. Thank you so much for supporting us. We want to hear everything we can about how you are liking the game, what you think can be improved, and what you’d want to see in expansion packs for the game.

For those of you who didn’t realize we had a game out you can go here for a great review and discussion of how it came to be (And if you have the game? Ah, go ahead. Click anyway!)

This was the first time making a game for us and for IDW who spearheaded the project. While we’re VERY proud of the game that Wolf and Tomas designed for us, it’s incredibly thought-out and meticulously play-tested and put together, we know that some of the peripherals are a bit lacking.

But IDW isn’t the kind of partner to shrug their shoulders and say “oh, we’ll get’em next time!” They’ve been working their butts off with a few different folks around the internet – including David Minken of ConnectMore - who posts amazing play-throughs of tons of great games. Together they have made a collection of bonus materials, rules, a turn description, a summary sheet of how each round works, etc… to make your game playing (or giving) experience easier – and we want to share those with you.

We ended up raising $38,585dollars — that’s 154% MORE than our original goal. Because of you guys and your support, both in pledging, but just as importantly in spreading the word, we ended up hitting a stretch goal as well. The game now has a better board than it would have without you.

And, I hear rumours, and these are JUST rumours that because we came so close to the SECOND stretch goal — that we may end up seeing that happen anyway! Plus IDW has mentioned their might be some other surprises kicking about for those of you who pledged.

Now I have been hearing a few common questions so let me answer them as best I can:

Iago’s severed head has a few questions he’d like to ask…

Q: Conor, I totally MEANT to support the kickstarter but I was kidnapped by Bolivian revolutionaries and just got back from Sucre… What do I do? Can I still get the Game?

A: Yes. Yes, you can. The game is going to be distributed widely. IDW wants Kill Shakespeare and all the other games coming out to be easy to get. Your local comic shop can order them, as can any store that specializes in board games. We’re told that most of these stores will be able to stock Kill Shakespeare starting in June. And of course, Anthony and I will probably bring a few copies to sell to most conventions.

(Oh, and I hope you had a chance to say “hi” to Evo Morales when you were in Bolivia…)

Q: When will I get my game if I supported the Kickstarter? Before those “Hamlet-come-lately” store buyers?

A: We’re told end of May is the likely time for that. The game has been thoroughly play-tested, we were just waiting to see what kickstarter goals we hit before sending the game to printers.

Q: So, IS the game going to be even more awesome than I am currently thinking it will be?

A: Yes! Definitely! I can’t tell you what it’s going to be but IDW and Pandasaurus have already GUARANTEED that there will be bonus content shipping with your game.

This is definitely NOT a hint.

Nosiree… no hints here. Not a one… Uh-uh….

Q: When can I play you and Anthony?

A: Why, we’re glad you asked that! We’re planning a couple of events, including one here in Toronto, that will give you a chance to play the game against us, see what all the fuss is about, and get copies for yourself.

And right here, right now, I’m saying if you can manage to beat me I will…. uh… sign your comic books for free!

(what can I say? I suck at games…)

Q:Is there anything else I can do to help the game out?

A: Yes, for sure. Once you have the game set up some nights for your friends, and then encourage them to go to their local store and get them to order it. The more we can pull games through the retail channels the more IDW is going to want to do expansion sets and then some of those other stretch goals we just missed out on may become a reality (Meeples anyone?)

Again, you guys are amazing. We’re the luckiest creators in the world to have friends and a fan-base like you.

As the Ides of March approaches I’m kind of pondering that whole: “my thoughts be bloody or nothing worth” dilemma that Hamlet wrestles with. I mean, on one hand, murder is awful, bad, and often really messy – even if you’ve already covered the bathroom floor with a tarp and have the hack-saw and bag of quicklime on the go.

On the OTHER hand – when Shakespeare does it, murder is pretty awesome. I mean, heads get chopped off, poison is consumed, there is not one, but TWO mass stabbings, people, Shakespeare once offed two kids by BAKING THEM IN A PIE and then SERVING THAT PIE TO THEIR MOM (“Mmm, this is good! Is this veal?” “No, it’s your kids, BOOM!”).

So that got me to thinking about OTHER people who love Shakespeare like we do, and especially love the peculiar joy that comes with snuffing out some punk’s all too brief candle.

Since Machine was such a HUGE success we thought it likely that it’s blend of wit, wordplay and cold-bloodedly hilarious focus on mass murder might be popular with you guys too, so David ! kindly let us design a BONUS SET OF CARDS for Machine of Death that has an all-Shakespeare flavour. You can download the card set here – these print and play beauties are ready to seamlessly fit into any Machine of Death game.

Bonus points (and prizes!) go to the first five people to correctly post in the comment section what play each card represents (or tweet us @IDWGAMES or @KillShakespeare). And if you know anyone who plays Machine, send’em over here – the more crossover between fans of Bardicide and fans of murder in general, the better.

(plus, it means more credible suspects to throw the cops off your trail).

Last week we launched a Kill Shakespeare Tumblr page, thanks to the amazing work of our editorial assistant Keith Morris. The Tumblr page will be updated a couple times a week and will feature detailed looks into the artistic process behind Kill Shakespeare as well as giving exclusive sneak peek previews and contests.

Yes, everyone is off to the races this year for Black Friday in the U.S. (and even here in Canada more and more every year)… So in that spirit we figured we would get into the spirit by offering our ShakesGeare tshirts on sale for the holiday season!

Super Shakespeare Fighter Shirt!

Starting today all of our tshirts purchased online are 20% OFF, or now $15.99 (down from $19.99). This sale will go for the next five weeks so take advantage of it now – they make excellent holiday gifts for the Shakespeare geek in your circle!

Click here, or on the image of our Super Shakespeare Fighter shirt to check out our online sales site.

I know, I know that I just got back from Miami and you want photos of Manatees and Martinis, but some of you have been bugging me for awhile about La Belle Province.

“Conor,” you say, “Where are all those photos you promised from Montreal? You took like a dozen of you and the belly dancer alone!”

And I had to confess that because I am technologically dumb I had somehow managed to save my Montreal photos in a strange directory that I could not find to upload them.

But lo and behold! While taking photos for my time at the Miami Book Fair, I managed to save THOSE photos in the same place and this time, sitting along in my hotel room with nothing but tap water and angst, I managed to CRACK THE CODE.

So here we go — a small sample of the VERY delayed Montreal photos are here, as well as a video from the show of a hoarse-voiced me trying to pitch a girl on the merits of Kill Shakespeare, but all she’s REALLY interested in is my celebrity look-alike…

Such is my love, to thee I so belong, That for thy right myself will bear all wrong. - Sonnet 88

UPDATE(May 28th, 2013): Julia Beckmann, who owns Amore Vita, saw the below post and super-kindly sent over a bunch of the most relevant Kill Shakespeare snaps. So while I would still VERY HEAVILY recommend you go over to her site (http://www.amorevitaphotos.com/) you can now look at some of those photos right here, right now!

(How’s that for service, huh?)

Iron Man and Juliet - a natural combination.

As you know, we're unrepentant Star Wars geeks, so Julia gifted us this photo as well. Oh Han, so coy...

As the wonderful Mr. Anthony Del Col so kindly noted, a year ago this day was when the love of my life, Crystal Luxmore, and I got married.

It’s been a fantastic year and I’m blessed beyond belief to have met my perfect partner.

I love you sweetie.

But enough about that… because we’ve got ANOTHER awesome couple we need to focus on.

Rico Renzi, part of the team of awesome dudes & dudettes behind Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find, one of the top comic shops in the WORLD sent this very cool e-mail to me.

It seems that Josh, one of Heroes’ regulars, decided he needed to get his love of comics into his wedding photos. That, in itself, is cool: we love all things geeky and romancing up here in Kill Shakespeare headquarters.

But what made this REALLY awesome? The bride to be, Denise? She seems to be a K.S. fan!

Check out this link for Amore Vita – if you scroll about half-way down through Julia’s pictures you’ll see Kill Shakespeare’s cameo (you’ll also see some great visual references to Superman, Star Wars and other classic components of the geek canon).

I wanted to share some memories of the events and thank all the amazing fans and friends who came out and supported us in both places. I had SUCH a good time talking with all of you.

We’ve said it before, but I don’t believe that any other book has such diverse and interesting fans as K.S. does!

Now let’s see some photos!

Below are a few from the stageplay that went on at C2E2 and was put on by the amazing Strawdog Theatre. I’ve already posted a few on our Facebook account, but these are a few samples that I took of the show. The rest you can find in this album.

"Hey kid, I can make you a star!" K.S. Director Anderson Lawfer greets me at the door of Strawdog Theatre

The cast in action on the Variant Stage at C2E2

"Lusty Ladies! Falstaff is here!"

The whole cast and crew celebrate a succesful show

Of course C2E2 was more than just theatre — we also had fans and cosplay galore. To get a flavour of the delightful madness here are a few shots to whet your appetite. You can see more of C2E2 in this album.

Hey, I don't judge. Some of my best friends are wookies!

When Anthony goes to cons, kids attack him. Me? I try to turn them on each other. It's a bit less chivalrous, but much less painful.

One of these people is the official jester of Milwaukee (no, I'm not even kidding)

Shakespeare! Smash!

This past weekend was TCAF — a more “refined” comics experience. While cos-play isn’t really a “thing” at TCAF it was a great chance to see old friends and to steal a ukele

Every once in awhile in the course of promoting Kill Shakespeare opportunities come by that see us starstruck. This past weekend was just such an occasion.

While Anthony started the weekend holding down the fort in Rochester Minnesota (and rubbing shoulders with comci superstars like Bill Willingham), I was in Orlando after being invited to the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.

The IAFA is an academic conference that focuses on sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Attending the conference is like going to the very smartest corner of a ComicCon, except with a swim-up bar, and no furries.

The 34th edition of the conference had five papers on The Walking Dead, two on semi-obscure Swedish Vampire flick Let the Right One In and a paper entitled Do Linguists Dream of Electric Sheep? A Study of Constructed Languages in Speculative Fiction.

I even sat in on one paper that linked changing Renaissance Fairs to Stephen Colbert’s notion of “truthiness” and what it called a growing problem in American Politics of ignoring what is true for what we want to be true (as always, blame the trolls people).

So, for a geek like me this was heaven.

But I was talking about being starstruck, and while being around so many smart interesting people was dizzying enough what REALLY made me need the shades was the chance to rub elbows not once, but twice, with a certain gentleman named…

… Neil Gaiman.

Yeah, him.

As part of the deal the IAFA offered us they said they’d pay for a night in a hotel and make sure that whichever of us came down would sit on a panel with Neil and other scholars and talk about adaptations of Shakespeare.

(the fact I got to go to this one explains why Anthony is currently sunning himself in SoCal while I hang out in lovely, but much colder, Toronto.)

But if that wasn’t enough the amazingly talented Carrie Cole, who helped put together the Kill Shakespeare stageshow when it was in Arizona had a surprise in store for me.

You see every year at the IAFA they perform three, one-act plays that were chosen as winners of a competition. This year Carrie was directing them, and knowing what a ham-bone I am she asked if I would be willing to be in one of the plays. I agreed, but because the play would be a day after I was scheduled to go to FablesCon from Orlando I was ready to beg off.

“Oh, but don’t you want to know who will be acting opposite you in the play?” she asked.

“Wellll, I guess….”

“It might be someone named… Neil Gaiman.”

So, about 45 minutes later I had my plane changed and was staying an extra day in Orlando which is how I ended up on stage on Friday night looking at one of the greatest writers of our time as he pulled a gun on me.

The play was a taut two-hander called The Sum of Your Experience and was written Trace Crawford. It involves the strange case of a man who gets robbed and the mugger who steals all his stories.

Appropriately Neil got to be the tale thief while I was the sorry son-of-a-gun who loses everything — including the memories of his children.

While I didn’t get a great chance to hang-out with Neil afterwards (he had been on his feet for three straight days) I was able to chat a little bit and passed on a couple of Kill Shakespeare t-shirts to him and his wife Amanda. He was as gracious and polite as everyone said he would be and is one of the smartest people I’ve ever meant.

Below are a few pictures from Orlando (and there may be one or two of a certain comics genius).

Neil tells me if I put all my stories in the bag then nobody gets hurt - photo courtesy David Hartwell